Turco's accomplishments are something special

John Leroi Out of Bounds

Sometimes even your closest friends can be your harshest critics. At least that seems to be the case for Michigan goaltender Marty Turco, whose teammate and close friend Matt Herr told him earlier this year that Turco had no chance of breaking the NCAA career wins mark.

Shows you how much Herr knows. Friday, just 24 games into the season, Turco scratched and clawed to his 112th win, breaking former Wolverine Steve Shields' four-year-old record. And while nobody can diminish the magnitude of his accomplishment, Turco sure tried.

"It's nice to get it over with and shift the focus to winning games," Turco said after Friday's 4-2 victory over Bowling Green. "It wasn't a dream come true, but the moment was self-gratifying considering where I come from and what has made me what I am today."

The moment was also a testament to the premier program that coach Red Berenson has transformed Michigan into from the shambles that shackled it a decade ago. Marty Turco did not build Michigan into a dynasty. Shields and Warren Sharples had a much larger hand in that. Turco was able to ride the program's coattails of success.

He was fortunate enough to win the starting spot at the beginning of his freshman season when Al Loges provided little competition. He was lucky enough to play behind three of the most talented college hockey teams ever assembled.

But Turco's achievements cannot be attributed to luck. He has talent - a lot of it. His bio is studded with crowning achievements: an NCAA championship, a 52-save performance in a triple-overtime loss to Maine in the 1995 NCAA semifinals, and All-America honors in 1997. And what makes Turco's newest record so great is that he was around to break it in the first place.

The Wolverines lost the best recruiting class in college hockey history at the end of last year. Jason Botterill, Brendan Morrison, Mike Legg, John Madden, Warren Luhning, Blake Sloan, Harold Schock, Chris Frescoln and Peter Bourke left behind a solid, but less intimidating, lineup in Ann Arbor. Michigan's defensive corps took the biggest hit. Junior Bubba Berenzweig and sophomore Sean Peach were the only truly experienced blueliners Michigan had left.

You can see why Herr was so skeptical. The prognosis was not good. The Wolverines were picked to finish in the middle of the CCHA, a place they had not resided since a fourth-place finish in 1990. Turco could have easily left for the NHL.

But he stayed in Ann Arbor to finish his senior season and get his degree. Forget the critics (with the possible exception of Herr), Michigan hockey is not dead, Turco thought. And with a crop of inexperienced defensemen and many of Michigan's snipers lost to graduation, Turco has led the Wolverines to the top of the CCHA at the season's halfway point.

His credentials are outstanding. His accomplishments are nothing short of incredible. His perseverance and dedication broke Shields' record. Luck had nothing to do with it.

And while Turco has never laid claim to the place in history that Shields has, it is time to recognize that Turco's place may be even more special. He has taken the Wolverines to heights that have never before been reached. He didn't turn this program around, but he helped build it into a dynasty.

"I'm a part of this program," Turco said, "a part of this institution that has provided me with so much since the day I stepped on campus. I'm more thrilled for this program when you look back and see what coach Berenson has brought this program from, accumulating all these wins and creating such high expectations."

Now Turco has created even higher expectations for the Michigan program, and that deserves to be admired. It was tough to follow Sharples and Shields and even more difficult to raise the lofty bar that they set. But Turco has brought the Wolverines a national championship, and with it respect and admiration throughout the country.

And for that, we owe Marty Turco a lot.

- John Leroi can be reached via e-mail at jrleroi@umich.edu

01-12-98